Flight security
The US Air Transport Association is planning to tighten up protection against hijackers by requiring airline pilots and cabin crew to carry biometric ID cards bearing their fingerprint or iris scans.
Net phones
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Mobile phones that treat voice calls like emails, splitting them up into packets of Internet data, are about to be launched in Japan by the telecommunications company KDDI. They鈥檒l call any phone in the world for the price of a local call.
Fridge mountain
Britain now has 1 million old fridges it can鈥檛 get rid of. The government has signed up to a European recycling directive, but the plants needed to process CFCs from the fridges鈥� insulation haven鈥檛 been built.
Shuttle cracks
Columbia has cracks in the system carrying liquid hydrogen fuel, like those found in its sister shuttles Atlantis and Discovery. Endeavour is being checked this week, and the entire fleet is grounded.
City bikes
Londoners will soon be able to use their mobile phones to hire bikes kept locked in racks around the city. Each lock will have a number. Key it into your phone and you鈥檒l be sent a code that lets you unlock the bike. Your account will be charged a fee until the bike is returned.
Armour plate
Electronic armour that can withstand strikes from rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) has passed live tests, says Britain鈥檚 Ministry of Defence. RPGs produce a plug of metal that penetrates armour at around 9 kilometres per second. The electronic armour passes a current of thousands of amps through the impacting metal plug, melting it like a piece of fuse wire.
Electronic games
A 鈥渟hoot-鈥檈m-up鈥� computer game has been designed especially to appeal to blind people. Its developer, ZForm, says it uses sound cues to help gamers navigate around a virtual environment and take accurate pot shots at the bad guys.